Friday, September 21, 2007

Dan Cloutier has been placed on waivers. There's a 24-hour waiting period to see if anyone claims him (ha!) and then he'll probably get sent to Manchester. I don't know how I missed this, but thank you Earl. More to come when I actually know what's going on.

Update:

Okay, I've had some time to think about this. Here's 3 things I think we can definitively say at this point:

1) Cloutier is not fully healed. I think Dean Lombardi watched the first few games and realized that Cloutier is not quite 100%. Cloutier suffers from "Eric Gagne Syndrome," where he thinks playing through pain will make him look tougher when all it really does is hurt the team and him in the long run. There's no point in him working off his rust up here in L.A., so we might as well let him do it in Manchester. (Sorry Manchester, your loss. I guess that's what you get for living in New Hampshire.)

2) Jonathan Bernier is going to get a shot. He's been the best goalie in training camp by most accounts, so it's only right that he be given a chance. Plus, they already said that they'd take three goalies to Europe. He might not play in London, but he'll definitely be allowed to make his case. I can imagine him and Labarbera splitting time for a while, with Aubin playing the role of back-up.

3) Dean Lombardi is my hero. Sending Cloutier down takes balls. Even though it was the right thing to do if Cloutier was still injured, I can't think of too many other GMs in the league that would do that. I know he made a mistake in giving Cloutier an extension, but every GM will do that; the key is to not compound the mistake by refusing to recognize it. I worship the guy, but this does not seem like something Dave Taylor would have been willing to do.

I never actually thought that the Kings were going to give Bernier a shot because Lombardi has a history for bringing his goalies along slowly. I guess I was wrong. Kudos to loyal reader dbushik, for calling it about a week ago. Let's see how he does.

Update #2: This isn't really an update, but I just wanted to point out that they have highlights from last season over on espn.com. I'm so excited about the season that I'm not even going to get mad that they didn't have one Kopitar goal from last year. (But I mean really, come on...) My personal favorites? Jordan Staal absolutely embarrassing some Philly defenseman (if it were an And 1 game, they would have made the guy leave), Phaneuf's hit on some Senator (I think the guy's a little overrated but he completely stops the other guy's momentum), and the 2nd Ryan Miller flying stick save because he not only stops it but then keeps it from rolling in while still in the air (maybe they should just shoot it on the ground next time). I also like seeing Brodeur doing the ol' half-butterfly to the stick side; you don't really see that anymore.

I can't take credit for calling the Cloutier demotion. I kind of had fantasys about it running since the end of last year, but I didn't expect it based on what we had seen from the team. This is the way I would have gone into this season though, send him down and make him either play his way back into or out of the NHL.

As for Bernier, he seemed to be making noise in camp, they had talked about going with three goalies to start the season and see what played out, and Ersberg got cut early (so it wasn't going to be him as #3).

I kind of wonder hoe this shakes out, because now there are three guys in Manchester to fill two roster spots (Quick, Ersberg and Cloutier). Aubin has a two-way deal, but would still have to pass waivers if sent down (but no one really wanted him before we bit, so maybe that's not a big deal?).

Bernier is going to get 9 games to prove he can truely play at this level before a decision needs to be made.

Wow. I never liked Cloutier, but even he out did my wildest imagination for how bad he could suck last year. Like I said, I would have come into this year with him in Manchester myself...and now my dream has come true!

This year when tickets went on-sale, they opened the Staples box office an hour before the TM on-sale time, and had coffee/juice/pastries for fans and also were holding an open practice so after you got tickets, you could watch it at Staples. They also had open forum time with DL and MC, and when you were standing in line for tixs, Miller and Foxy were going up and down the line shaking everyone's hand, talking to people, and Foxy was giving out autographed pictures of himself back in the purple and gold unis.

I've done on-sales at Staples BO for the past number of years to get home opener tickets where I want them, and this was the first year I actually felt like the Kings were not taking their fans for granted (thanks Ducks).

So, long set-up for the humorous bit, but also, when you purchased tickets that morning last weekend, you got an autographed player picture.

Geuss who I got... :)

Brian Willsie was the next guy in the stack, so I kept Dan for the ironic value.

I was going to go to that Staples Center meet & greet but I was afraid I'd overshadow the festivities. People would be like, "Hey, there's RudyKelly, the famous blogger!" "Out of the way Kopitar, I want to talk to Rudy!" It's not about me, people; it's about the team.